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Kim Stagliano

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I'm Not Drinking the Kook (I Mean, Kool) Aid

Posted: 03/01/08 05:28 PM ET

From the NYT:

As states move to require more vaccines for school-age children, an increasing number of parents are saying no to some of the inoculations. They are seeking exemptions from the state in growing numbers, citing religious reasons or saying that they believe the vaccines will do more harm than good. (Read the full article here.)

Imagine my surprise when I saw my daughter's classmate and her Mom in the Times article! (Way to go, Jaime!)

Moms and Dads are waking up and refusing to drink the Kool Aid offered by their patronizing pediatrician, CDC Pharma shill, FDA schmuck. We have real questions about the safety and necessity of the ever growing American Academy of Pediatrics vaccine schedule. When docs start pushing a "cervical cancer" vaccine (Gardasil) to boys, even the dimmest bulb of a parent starts to realize that there is a marketing agenda taking precedence over health. Note to pediatricians: You might want to go back to Anatomy 101 and look around the crotch area of the male. You guys might not have any balls, but boys still do, and there's not a cervix in sight.

Last week the mainstream press refused to report that the US government conceded a vaccine case and is paying damages to a family for a child whose underlying mitochondrial condition was exacerbated by her vaccinations, resulting in an autism diagnosis (Read the text of the case here.)

Dan Childs, from ABC sent emails (See a copy here) around the country asking questions about this case so ABC World News could create an informed report. "Someone" must have informed them to shut the bleep up. The report never came.

We did however learn the next day (read more here) that the flu vaccine was going to be recommended to all children ages 6 months through age 18 (currently the recommendation is to age six.) This adds 30,000,000 "customers" for the flu vaccine every year for 18 years. The reason? Sick kids keep Mom and Dad home from work. Newsflash: If you think staying home for a few days to care for your kid is expensive, try having to quit your career to care for a child with autism for the next oh, 70 years.

Parents understand that drug companies lie, cheat, fudge data and advertise using fear to sell all of their products - and that includes vaccines. Parents have lost trust in their doctors. The doctors have no one to blame but themselves for having gorged themselves at the Big Pharma trough for so many years. Parents are thirsty for knowledge - not Kook (I mean Kool) Aid.

 

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05:12 PM on 03/02/2008
"Parents understand that drug companies lie, cheat, fudge data and advertise using fear to sell all of their products - and that includes vaccines. Parents have lost trust in their doctors. The doctors have no one to blame but themselves for having gorged themselves at the Big Pharma trough for so many years. Parents are thirsty for knowledge - not Kook (I mean Kool) Aid."

Kim this statement is so direct and right on the money.(no pun intended) another home run blog!!!
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01:23 PM on 03/02/2008
There are a lot of risible statements in this piece, but the one that I'm focussing on is the Gardasil/boys howler. As several posters have pointed out, Gardasil prevents HPV, a virus that is the causative agent for most cervical cancers, as well as genital warts.

A male who has recieved this vaccine, then, will gain protection from genital warts, and will also become part of the societal firewall against HPV: if he cannot catch the worst strains of HPV, he can't become a carrier who infects his subsequent partners.
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Stagmom
03:37 PM on 03/02/2008
Simon, you had me referring back to my Latin on "risible." I love your vocab.

You mean like men are the firewall between unwanted pregnancy and HIV? Hmmmmmm????????? I love men. I really do. But, um, I'm not sure I'd trust a drunk frat boy who told me he'd had the Gardasil vaccine any more than he should trust me if I told him I was on the pill. (I don't mean "me" me - I'm a bit long in the tooth and short in the bustline for frat boys. I do remember them though.)

Best,

KIM

For those who didn't take Latin (or French (rire - to laugh)

risible \RIZ-uh-buhl\, adjective:
1. Capable of laughing; disposed to laugh.
2. Exciting or provoking laughter; worthy of laughter; laughable; amusing.
3. Relating to, connected with, or used in laughter; as, "risible muscles."
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radmul
01:22 PM on 03/03/2008
Excellent response
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CraigWilloughby
In the immortal words of Socrates, "I drank what?"
12:28 PM on 03/02/2008
Thanks, Kim.

Its interesting to note that here in Texas, the political clone of Dubya Bush (Rick Perry) has been actively and stringently forcing the Gardasil vaccine into our schools. Now, this was only after about 6 months of clinical trials before he passed a law forcing his agenda on our daughters. When this happened, I wondered why such an untested drug would be rushed through the approval process so quickly. From my research, I've learned that the vaccine is horribly painful, has numerous side effects, and has caused at least one death. At the time, I wondered what Gov. Perry was thinking.

And then I looked up who one of his major campaign contributers was; Merck. Then, the series costs $120 a shot, so $400 or $500 for the entire series. Add to that the number of girls over the age of 11 in our public schools who will be forced to have this vaccine. I can see the dollar signs rolling in the Merck executive's eyes (can ya say cha-ching?)

And then you know Perry is getting a kick-back.

People wonder why us kooky parents are so skeptical of vaccines. They wonder why we don't trust Big-Pharm and the medical industry. The truth is that the Medical Industry, Big Pharm and the Government are only interested in the money. We don't trust all of the reports released by the CDC, the FDA and the Institute of Medicine because all of these reports are bought and paid for by the Pharm industry. Its all about the money.
11:40 AM on 03/02/2008
"Can I be the third skeptic to point out how misinformed you have revealed yourself to be? Gardisil is not a cervical cancer vaccine. What say you, Kim"?

AutismNewsBeat,

It is interesting that you of all people point out that Gardasil is not a cervical cancer vaccine. Why is it then that Merck states on their webpage for Gardasil:

"Gardasil- the only cervical cancer vaccine"

http://www.gardasil.com/

Now, you and I may agree that technically Gardasil is not a "cervical cancer vaccine". So, how can you explain why Merck would clearly attempt to confuse the masses by advertising it as such? What say you, AutismNewsBeat?
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MomOf3AU
09:26 AM on 03/02/2008
I want to be ONE LESS. ONE LESS parent allowing my children to receive any more vaccinations until my government wins back my trust. I want there to be ONE LESS child receiving harmful overloads of live viruses, metals, antifreeze, and more injected directly into his small, developing body. And I want to meet ONE LESS parent of a child with autism.

I want there to be ONE LESS thought about profit vs. safety. I want the Maloney Bill passed and fully-funded.
07:39 AM on 03/02/2008
Why so many modern journalists tend not to consult any real specialist before submitting an article on a subject?
Dear Kim, you failed to understand that a virus, HPV virus that causes "cervical cancer" in this case, affects not an organ, but a particular type of tissue.
That means that the "cervical cancer" virus will be causing cancer of male genitalia and urinary tract.
Good luck with your Anatomy 101 for Dummies.
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Stagmom
12:02 PM on 03/02/2008
Well, Joan. When penises start falling off at a 1 in 150 rate you give me a jingle, OK?
04:56 PM on 03/02/2008
Well, if we ever see THAT epidemic at least herd-immunity would still be intact -- even if their penises weren't.
09:16 PM on 03/02/2008
They won't fall off. They'll merely be covered with unusual looking "growths" which will shed cells and give the same illness to females, who, later in life will develop cervical cancer.

Immunizing boys AND girls is a good idea unless youv'e come up with something besides "just say no" to keep them from.....
05:29 AM on 03/02/2008
Not only is the link between vaccines and autism logical and common sense, it will eventually lead to a situation where many (1 in 150?) people will have to have continuous care or at least governmental help in simply existing...and we talk about Social Security being bankrupt, we discuss how Medicaid is struggling and being cut from the budget, but sooner or later, when these autistic individuals become adults, they won't be able to work any kind of traditional jobs. Maybe by then they'll get a settlement from the pharma folks, But one way or the other they will have to be taken care of.
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AutismNewsBeat
11:07 PM on 03/01/2008
"When docs start pushing a "cervical cancer" vaccine (Gardasil) to boys, even the dimmest bulb of a parent starts to realize that there is a marketing agenda taking precedence over health."

Can I be the third skeptic to point out how misinformed you have revealed yourself to be? Gardisil is not a cervical cancer vaccine. What say you, Kim? Other hard core anti-vaccine activists don't care if you're making stuff up, but those folks are, thankfully, a tiny minority. How do you expect the rest of us to take you seriously?

Will you admit that you're wrong?
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usna73
We are all in this together
08:33 AM on 03/02/2008
You are correct. Gardasil is NOT a cervical cancer vaccine. It is promoted as a vaccine to prevent HPV, the cause of 70% of all cervical cancers. I read disclosures.

More Pharma doublespeak.

Kim and "the rest of us" really do get it. We just refuse to allow you to fool the American people.

Which PR gobbly gook think tank do you push for?

And your asking if Kim should be taken seriously? Give me a break.
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CraigWilloughby
In the immortal words of Socrates, "I drank what?"
02:35 PM on 03/03/2008
If Gardasil is not a Cervical Cancer vaccine, then why are they marketing it as such? The first ever vaccine that can prevent Cervical Cancer. That's directly from their commercial.
09:51 PM on 03/01/2008
Kim, another great post.

This is such an important point: "Sick kids keep Mom and Dad home from work. Newsflash: If you think staying home for a few days to care for your kid is expensive, try having to quit your career to care for a child with autism for the next oh, 70 years."

It's a conundrum: The only way to care for a kid with autism is to make lots of money. But how do you do that if you have to sideline your career? People who have kids with autism - and not a lot of money - are in deep trouble.
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CraigWilloughby
In the immortal words of Socrates, "I drank what?"
10:29 AM on 03/02/2008
You are so right! I am a middle class network administrator. According to our illustreous Government, I make too much money for my son to receive SSI benefits and Medicaid. My insurance company won't pay for his therapy or medication because Autism is a "pre-existing condition." I've been with this insurance company for 5 years; my son is 6 and was diagnosed at 2. How in the world is his condition pre-existing? So I pay for his medication, his psychiatric consultations, and his occupational and speech therapy out of pocket every month, which, by the way, is more costly than my rent and utilities combined. I've eaten through my savings, broken into my 401k, and now we barely live from paycheck to paycheck. I should be able to retire when I'm in my 90's.
09:11 PM on 03/01/2008
right... it's bad to market Gardisil to boys, because they don't get HPV. Also, boys never transmit something they are carrying to a girl. Wonders never cease...

Wait... so, who's the dimmest bulb, here?
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Doybia
10:05 PM on 03/01/2008
Wait, aren't you making a few assumptions here? Gardasil has no side effects (not true). Preventing some strains of HPV has been proven to prevent cancer (not true). Giving boys Gardasil has been proven to prevent them from transmitting HPV to girls (not true). Preventing four strains of HPV will reduce the rates of cervical cancer (what if other strains increase and fill the gap?). And so on. With enough assumptions any drug will look good. A sensible parent might want to check things out before having their child injected with the latest big thing, might want to know more than is available in a few news stories and a lot of advertising, might want to be sure that the benefits outweigh the problems...but the current slogan is: "Don't research, don't think, just vaccinate."
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CraigWilloughby
In the immortal words of Socrates, "I drank what?"
10:34 AM on 03/02/2008
Correct! The Government doesn't want us to think for ourselves or ask questions. They just want us to blithely do what we're told. Makes you wonder how brain-washed some of the pro-vacciners are.
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Stagmom
08:23 AM on 03/02/2008
Well, no, the point of mandating the vaccine for boys is to protect girls - you're right. But at $1000 a shot for some of the HPV strains (not all) don't you think a $3.00 condom might be more cost effective? That would help prevent AIDS, pregnancy and STD's like HPV. Where's the multimillion dollar ad campaign to protect our kids using condoms?

However, with many newer vaccines, it takes quite some time to learn when a booster is needed. For instance, there are chicken pox outbreaks in many elementary schools. So the docs recommend a chicken pox booster to older kids. What happens when boys get the HPV shot at 16 when they are still going for a yearly doctors visit but have numerous relations in college at age 20 - not knowing they may need a booster? The girls will have false protection. As will the boys. There are just so many questions. And to date numerous deaths and adverse reactions - some life threatening or life altering for girls. Check the VAERS database on that. When the lead researcher (Diane Harper at Dartmouth) comes out and says, "Too fast! Wait! This isn't for girls under 15!" but FDA approves it for age 11+ parents scratch their heads. No one wants ill children. But we've crossed a line from protection from deadly diseases to using vaccines for social policy. I have to question that.

Best,

KIM
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Stagmom
03:43 PM on 03/02/2008
Pardon me, I erred. Gardasil is estimated to cost $300 - $500 for the three shots required to complete the series, not $1000.
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Doybia
09:05 PM on 03/01/2008
The number of vaccines has shot way up. Here is a fun little skit on the topic:
http://insidevaccines.com/wordpress/?p=86

Here is a little excerpt:
Father: Right. We are up to seventeen vaccines and the baby is only four months old. When was the last time you had 17 vaccines in four months, doctor?

Doctor: My vaccines are not the question here. We need to stay focused on what is needed for public health. You don’t want to be responsible for causing an epidemic, do you?

Mother: No, of course not (looks worried). But this schedule is so intense. Couldn’t we spread things out a bit?

Doctor: You need to follow the recommended schedule. I don’t accept families who don’t vaccinate on schedule.
-------------------------------------------------------
The current recommended schedule will indeed result in a baby receiving SEVENTEEN vaccines by the time they are four months old. Not seventeen shots, of course, but seventeen different doses for a whole pile up of different diseases, starting with the Hepatitis B vaccine on the first day of life. Sure, why not? Who cares? Of course this is safe.
08:56 PM on 03/01/2008
When I was pregnant with my son, now dx’ed with ASD/ADHD, I took a natural childbirth class. Two of the couples said they were not going to vaccinate their babies. I had never heard of such a thing. A few months later, 9/11 happened with all the fears of bioterrorism. I proudly and timely marched my son to his “well-child†vaccination visits, and thought about the danger the unvaccinated children where in. I’ve kept in touch with those families and their children have thrived while mine has had a medical book’s worth of health issues including regression after the MMR/flu vaccine.

I still think some vaccines are important, but the medical establishment has done NOTHING to address my concerns. They’ve put out faulty studies, continuously issue complete denials, and rather than make changes to the vaccination program to make it safer, they just keep expanding it causing more reason for concern.

I talk to parents all over in my "real-life" who are now either forgoing all vaccines or some and then delaying and spreading out the shots.

I’m waiting for ALL of my vaccine safety issues to be address until I allow any of my children to have another shot. Our family has suffered enough from current vaccination program.
08:22 PM on 03/01/2008
Dear Kim:

Your piece points out something extremely important about this issue.

Concerns are beginning to mount. From parents of autistic children, to the US government conceeding a vaccine "significantly aggrevated" a child autism and gave rise to her seizures, to ABC news beginning to check out thse concerns, the road only gets worse for the pharmeceutical companies.

It reminds me of that old saying from a Germany which died when the Nazis came to power. You know the one: First they came for the communists, but I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. . .

Maybe today's saying should go like this:

I didn't speak out against the vaccines because I didn't have a child with ADD.
I didn't speak out against the vaccines because I didn't have a child with Asperger's
I didn't speak out against the vaccines because I didn't have a child with asthma
I didn't speak out against the vaccines because I didn't have a child with diabetes
I didn't speak out against the vaccines because I didn't have a child with seizures
I didn't speak out against the vaccines because I didn't have a child with gastro-intestinal problems
I didn't speak out against the vaccines because I didn't have a child with autism

But now my grandchild has all those problems and I am old.

Who will speak for him?


All the best,
Kent Heckenlively
09:15 PM on 03/01/2008
There is ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE of vaccines contributing to Autism and Asperger's.
09:37 PM on 03/01/2008
And where, pray tell, is the evidence that they don't?
11:57 AM on 03/02/2008
"There is ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE of vaccines contributing to Autism and Asperger's".

Equally as important, middleofnowhere, would be extensive safety studies done on vaccines. If you find some, please feel free to post them. Thank you.
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nogggin
06:16 AM on 03/02/2008
Perhaps you’ve heard of Nate Tseglin. Nate’s family describes the state-run institution where the kidnapped boy is currently being held (http://www.getnatehome.com/related_info)...

>At the Fairview Developmental Center (a state-run institution) in Huntington Beach, California, a staff person killed a fourteen year old young man who had autism and mental retardation by rolling him inside an exercise mat in an effort to control his behavior. The staff person was arrested. Testimony showed that as punishment for "non-compliant behavior" she had put a diaper across the young man's face to block his vision, rolled him in the mat, sat on the folded end of the mat and kept him there for more than ten minutes until he stopped kicking. The staff person's attorney argued that lay people might consider her reaction "improper" but that a room full of autistic students is "a different world". "These are socially undesirable people" the attorney went on to argue, "sometimes what a person has to do may seem strange and distasteful to others". The judge dropped charges and dismissed the case saying that he had no doubt that the staff person had caused the boy's death but that her actions were "between her and her conscience and not something for a court of law".<

Wow, did the words ‘socially undesirable people’ ever hit a raw nerve for me. I’ve started reading Cleansing the Fatherland, and I’ve learned a big new german word—Gemeinschaftsfremd . Translated into english, it means ‘alien to the community’. Look it up .

Robin Nemeth
07:11 PM on 03/01/2008
Please. The vaccine is for HPV, which is sexually transmitted, which means that it might be a good idea to combat in males as well. Also, the virus causes other forms of cancer besides cervical cancer, and males can and do get some of them. Also, well controlled scientific studies have rejected the link between vaccination and autism.
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Stagmom
08:14 PM on 03/01/2008
You're right, BraveryExists. But Merck's marketing juggernaut touted it as a cancer vaccine - because no one wants cancer - and a genital wart vaccine just sounds so yucky. So they lived by their ads and are dying by their ads as mother's say, "Not for my son."

From medicalnewstoday.com: "Merck & Co., Inc. announced today the launch of a national print, television and online advertising campaign for the world's first cervical cancer vaccine, GARDASIL®"
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AutismNewsBeat
11:14 PM on 03/01/2008
So what's your point? Boys don't have a cervix, therefore that don't get HPV? And anybody who thinks otherwise is a dim bulb?

You have a such a way to revealing the truth. About yourself, that is.
06:33 PM on 03/01/2008
Kim,
You have an incredible talent for exposing the tragic truth and making us laugh at the same time. Thanks for another great post!